It is well known in the automotive industry to provide pre-tensioning or belt presenting mechanisms and devices for enhancing the efficacy of occupant restraint systems that employ seat belts. These systems have generally provided for a seat belt presenter or pre-tensioner that utilizes pyrotechnic devices to activate gas ejection to provide for belt pre-tensioning during sensed crash and pre-crash conditions.
There has been a need to provide for a re-settable vehicle seat belt pre-tensioner presenter that presents a vehicle seat belt buckle to an operator for easy access, and permits variable seat belt tensioning in response to sensed vehicle driving conditions.
To improve upon existing passive and active safety technology, it has been determined that passive safety technologies should be designed and developed to utilize pre-crash sensor signals to provide active safety feature benefits. Re-settable seat belt pre-tensioners are known in the art. However there is a continuing challenge to develop a re-settable seat belt pre-tensioner to provide active and passive safety benefits through the use of pre-crash sensors to pre-tension the belt during pre-crash and crash events. In addition, most re-settable seat belt pre-tension systems are incorporated into the retractor portion of the seat belt system. In addition, more convenient seat belt systems to aid in donning the seatbelt will be an aid in ensuring that a greater number of drivers wear seat belt restraints. Accordingly, it is felt that a seat belt buckle pre-tensioner presenter with active and passive safety features will be an improvement to vehicle seat belt restraint systems.